


Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Parents

by DesertVixen



Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 06:52:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nancy uncovers some long-hidden secrets.<br/>(Post-1959 revision Nancy Drew)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Parents

**Author's Note:**

  * For [morganya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganya/gifts).



Nancy had been pleasantly surprised to receive the note from Laura Pendleton, inviting her to a dinner party to celebrate Laura’s seventeenth birthday. The two had become friends that summer, when Nancy had helped Laura and her guardian, Jacob Aborn, from being swindled out of Laura’s inheritance and Jacob’s own earnings. That had been a rather exciting, if dangerous, summer adventure up at Melrose Lake. However, during the rest of the year, the Aborns lived in River Heights. The invitation had been very formal and correct, but Laura had enclosed a second note for Nancy that showed how excited Laura was about her first fancy dinner party.

Nancy had decided to wear her dark blue dinner dress to set off the lovely aquamarine ring that Laura had given her as a keepsake of their summer adventure. The full skirt swished as Nancy turned, slipping on pearl earrings. The dress itself was not new, but Nancy had found a dark blue stole with lovely silvery gray and white embroidery to complete the outfit at Taylor’s Department Store on her last shopping trip. Finally, she fastened a strand of pearls around her throat and gave herself an approving nod in the mirror. 

She was ready.

*** *** ***  
After the excellent dinner served by the Aborns’ cook, the dinner party guests had moved into the parlor to socialize a bit. Nancy had been pleased to see several other young people that she knew, including Nancy’s friends Helen Corning and Don Cameron. Nancy noted with some amusement that Don seemed very attentive to Laura, who looked lovely in a pale green dress that set off her auburn hair to perfection. Don had been Nancy’s escort on a number of occasions, including their Spring Prom, but the two of them were now merely good friends. He had also been instrumental in the successful conclusion of Laura’s mystery, showing up in the nick of time to assist Nancy and her father to apprehend the villains of the case. 

Laura came up to Nancy. “Marian was wondering if you could talk with a friend of hers for a few minutes, Nancy.”

“Of course,” Nancy replied. “Does this have anything to do with the mystery you hinted at in your note?”

“Possibly,” Laura said with a smile. She led Nancy over to where Marian Aborn, Jacob’s wife, was sitting by the fireplace with a young woman. Nancy had seen her earlier in the evening, but she had been seated too far down the table for conversation.

“Nancy,” Marian said as Nancy and Laura took seats on the sofa, “this is Adelaide Blackwell, the niece of a dear friend of mine. She has a rather unique problem that Jacob and I thought you might be able to assist her with.”

Adelaide Blackwell wore a simple black dinner dress, and Nancy noted that she was a striking young woman with ash blonde hair and dark blue eyes. “My grandmother – my mother’s mother – recently passed away, and left me her house in her will. It’s been vacant these last five years or so. My grandmother preferred to live in an apartment, rather than alone in a large house.” 

“How can I help you?” 

“Nine years ago,” Adelaide said softly, “when I was almost nine, my parents disappeared without a trace. I believe that the answer to their disappearance is somewhere in my grandmother’s house.”

Marian placed her hand gently on Adelaide’s shoulder. “Adelaide and her aunt live in Detroit. Jacob and I have made sure that her grandmother’s house has remained in good shape,” the older woman explained to Nancy.

“Jacob and Marian told me how you were able to help them, and Laura,” Adelaide said intently. “Helen Corning was also telling me at dinner about how you were able to help her aunt Rosemary. I was hoping that maybe you could help me.”

*** *** ***

Adelaide had agreed to meet Nancy and Helen for lunch so that they could talk privately, something that they had been unable to do the night before. Cathy Donnell had been able to convince Jacob Aborn that it wouldn’t be a proper party without some informal dancing, and Nancy had not resisted when Don Cameron pulled her onto the improvised dance floor. The young people had spent a gay hour dancing, and capped the evening off with a late dessert of cake and ice cream. It had been an enjoyable evening, but as she had driven home, Nancy found herself wondering about Adelaide’s intriguing story. There was nothing Nancy loved as much as a good mystery.

Nancy had spent part of the morning helping Hannah prepare lunch while telling the kindly housekeeper about the dance. Hannah had made Laura’s acquaintance when the girl had fled from the swindlers posing as Jacob and Marian Aborn, and her heart had gone out to the motherless girl. She had been less than happy to find that Nancy was looking at being involved in another mystery, however.

“Please tell me what you do know,” Nancy invited as they sat down in the sunny living room with cups of tea.

“My grandfather died a few years before I was born, and my grandmother preferred to live in a smaller place, with just a maid,” Adelaide began. “When my parents married, she asked them to live there. I think that she hoped they would have a large family, but there was just me. When they disappeared, I was staying with my aunt for the summer. My mother, Charlotte, had wired her that she was coming to visit us, but she never arrived. After two days, my aunt contacted my grandmother to find out if there was some trouble. There was no sign of any trouble at the house. They even found my mother’s suitcase standing packed and ready in the bedroom.”

“I remember reading about it in the River Heights Gazette at the time,” Hannah said. “There was an extensive search, but nothing came of it.”

“Yes.” Adelaide’s voice was quiet. “It was decided that I should live with my aunt after that. The house stood empty for a time, as my grandmother had no desire to live there. It was rented out for a time, but never on a long-term basis. As I said last night, the house has stood vacant for about five years. Other than moving personal belongings up to the attic, there have not been many changes since the day my parents vanished. I want to go through what is there, and see if I can’t find something that would help explain what happened.”

“I would be glad to help,” Nancy said. “When would you like to start?”

“Tomorrow?” Adelaide asked hopefully. Nancy could hear the excitement in the other girl’s voice. 

*** *** ***

They had decided it would be best to get an early start. Nancy didn’t know if they would be able to find anything, after all this time, but she was certainly willing to try. Hannah had insisted on packing a picnic basket for Nancy to take with her, saying that she knew once Nancy was involved in a mystery, she was quite unlikely to notice what time it was. Nancy had laughed, along with her father, but she had to admit there was some truth to it. She just loved a good mystery.

The house was not a grand mansion, but a Victorian of moderate size, although it sat on a sizable piece of land near the outskirts of River Heights, with a few small outbuildings that Adelaide said had been used for servants’ quarters, and then for storage. Nancy thought it was quite lovely, despite the slightly shabby appearance of the paint. Adelaide turned the key in the door and the two girls entered the house. There was a faintly stale smell inside the house, as if it needed a few days of open windows and good strong sunlight. 

“There’s not much to see on the first floor,” Adelaide explained as she led Nancy through empty rooms. “The second floor has some bedrooms still furnished.”

“We should start with the attic,” Nancy decided. “You said that was where the personal things are.”

“Yes.” They climbed the stairs, and Adelaide unlocked the door to the attic. The ceilings were a bit lower up here, and it was obvious that it had not been disturbed in some time. Nancy busied herself opening the windows and shutters to allow light and air in, while Adelaide pulled an old-fashioned trunk into the middle of the room.

“All the papers and such are in here,” she explained, and the two girls sat down to start looking through them. After a few hours, they had not turned up anything of importance, although Adelaide had unearthed some photographs that she intended to take with her for framing. They found a second trunk that was full of antique clothes that they admired, but nothing of importance in it either. 

The rest of the attic was given over to furniture that Adelaide’s grandmother had not wanted damaged if there were other people living in the house. Nancy was briefly excited by the prospect of an old rolltop desk. A careful search of it turned up a secret compartment, but it there was nothing in it except dust.

Adelaide was beginning to look disappointed, not that Nancy could blame her. Adelaide had been sure that they would find something that had been overlooked before, and so far they were not having much luck. She had started to examine the walls of the attic, hopeful that there might be some sort of secret compartment or opening that had been missed nine years ago. 

“Nancy,” Adelaide called after a few minutes, “come look at this.”

Nancy looked up to see Adelaide standing next to a delicate dresser with several very narrow drawers. “It’s my mother’s jewelry dresser,” she explained. “It was one of her favorite pieces of furniture.”

“It’s lovely,” Nancy replied, running her hand over the smooth wood and noting the dust that came away on her hand. 

“I think I’ll arrange to have it taken out and brought with me,” Adelaide said softly. “It’s always stood in her bedroom. Mother used to laugh and call it her treasure chest.”

“May I look at it?” Nancy had a hunch, and she had found that paying attention to her hunches generally paid off. Her father might laugh and call it feminine intuition, but Nancy trusted it.

“Of course.” Adelaide stepped back, as Nancy pulled open the first drawer, running her fingers along the inside of the drawer, feeling carefully for any sort of catch or release.  
Nothing. She tried the next two drawers before deciding to pull out the bottom drawer, so sure that there had to be something. She could feel Adelaide watching her and hoping.  
The back of the drawer fell back on a hinge, and Nancy found that part of the drawer could be pulled up. The secret compartment wasn’t very large, but it held a number of letters and what looked to be a diary. 

“Why don’t we go downstairs and have lunch while you read them?” Nancy suggested as Adelaide looked through the envelopes.

*** *** ***

The dining room still had a serviceable table and chairs – Adelaide had pointed out a much finer set of table and chairs in the attic – so the two girls chose to sit in there. Sunlight streamed across the table as Nancy set out the delicious ham sandwiches and freshly-made chocolate cake that Hannah had packed for them, along with a bottle of milk. Adelaide barely touched hers, however, as she read through the stack of letters. Nancy remained quiet, waiting for Adelaide to decide to share.

At length, Adelaide looked up from the letters, clearly upset. “The letters are from my mother to someone named Edward. I think you should read this one, Nancy.”

Nancy unfolded it carefully, blushing a little to be reading what was clearly a love letter written by a woman she had never met. As she read through the letter, however, she could see why Adelaide was upset. The letter made it quite clear that whoever this Edward was, he was Adelaide’s father. The date on it was only a few days before Adelaide’s mother’s disappearance, and concerned the couple’s plans to go away together. There was a reference to “our special way” that Nancy found rather intriguing, making her wonder if perhaps the house had a secret passage. 

“I just can’t believe she would abandon me!” Adelaide exclaimed as the silence stretched on. She had been looking through the journal, as if to avoid simply sitting there. 

“We don’t know that she did,” Nancy said gently. “It’s possible that something, some kind of accident, happened and kept her from coming to meet you.” Suddenly, she thought of the suitcase that had reportedly been found in the house, and felt a shiver go down her spine. She didn’t want to say it, but it was also possible that something had kept Adelaide’s mother from ever leaving the house.

Adelaide kept looking at the journal, blinking as if to hold back tears. Then she looked up at Nancy, and pushed the journal towards her. “Look at this.”

Nancy read through the entry, written in a girlish hand, which detailed an excited account of finding a hidden passage that led from the house to one of the outbuildings, starting inside the pantry. She found herself rather liking the teenage girl who had written of ensuring that she had a flashlight with fresh batteries before entering the passage. 

“Did your grandmother ever say anything about a hidden passage?” Nancy asked eagerly. 

“Not that I can remember. My aunt has never said anything either, but to my understanding the house was thoroughly searched,” Adelaide replied.

“They were searching for a person, not a secret passage,” Nancy said softly. “Let me get my flashlight from the car.”

*** *** ***

Warm afternoon sunlight filled the kitchen as Nancy opened the door to the pantry. The journal entry described the catch as being built into the baseboard, and it took Nancy a few minutes to find that it was not actually the baseboard itself, but what appeared to be a knot in the wood flooring. When she pushed down on it, the back wall of the pantry moved slightly, enough for them to see the outline of a door. Adelaide grabbed Nancy’s arm excitedly. “It worked!”

Nancy switched on her flashlight and pushed the door wider, revealing a flight of stairs going down. She shone the light around experimentally, shivering as she stepped into the darkness. Adelaide stood by the door, holding it open, since neither of them knew how delicate the mechanism was – or how to open it from the other side. The journal entry had not detailed that piece of information.

“What do you see?” Adelaide called.

“Not much,” Nancy called back, then flashed her light down further before drawing in a sharp breath as the beam of light showed her what was at the bottom of the stairs. A skeletal hand rested on the bottom step, gleaming white in the light. Nancy shuddered and started backing up the stairs as quickly as she could, unwilling to turn her back on what she saw.

“Nancy? What’s wrong?” Adelaide’s voice was more insistent.

*** *** ***

Two weeks later, Nancy and Carson Drew came into the living room, Nancy removing her rarely-worn black gloves. 

They had just returned from a very private ceremony in River Heights’ cemetery, watching as Adelaide Blackwell’s parents were laid to rest. Chief McGinnis’ investigation had discovered two bodies at the foot of the hidden staircase. As Nancy had feared, Charlotte Blackwell had not left the house that day. They had been able to identify the man, Edward Langley, but been unable to find any living relatives. It was clear that he had met Charlotte and that the two of them had been surprised by Jason Blackwell, Charlotte’s husband and the man that Adelaide had known as her father.

There was still a mystery, but Carson Drew had decreed that the task of finding Jason Blackwell was one for the professionals, not his daughter. It was possible they would never know the whole story, but what they did know from the letters that Nancy and Adelaide had found, as well as a letter in Charlotte’s purse, found not too far away from what was left of her body, was that Charlotte had decided to ask her husband for a divorce so that she could marry the man she had fallen in love with – Adelaide’s actual father. It had been a considerable shock to those who had known Adelaide’s parents, but Carson Drew had managed to keep the discovery from attracting too much publicity.

Adelaide had been withdrawn at the cemetery, but she had managed to thank Nancy warmly. “I would never have found the letters or diary without you. It’s just horrible to think that all those years-“ 

Nancy had taken Adelaide’s hand in hers. “Try not to think about it too much.”

“I know that she didn’t abandon me now, and that helps,” Adelaide said softly. “It’s all really too much to take in right now. It’s hard to believe that not only is my father maybe not really my father, but that he could have murdered my mother. I don’t know if I ever will believe it, without hearing it from him.”

Nancy noticed that she made no reference to Edward Langley. Adelaide had refused to address the subject, maintaining that there was no conclusive way to prove who her father was, other than her mother’s letters.

Then Adelaide had stepped away, to stand with the Aborns and her aunt during the brief ceremony that saw Edward Langley laid to rest next to Charlotte Blackwell, the woman he had loved and wished to marry. Nancy watched Adelaide briefly touch her mother’s coffin as she laid flowers on it before they were lowered. After a moment of hesistation, Nancy saw her touch Edward Langley’s coffin. 

It was a strange feeling to have solved a mystery and know that her solution had only brought more questions that might never be answered. It certainly seemed as if Jason Blackwell was a murderer, but where was he now? 

“That was quite a mystery,” Carson Drew commented as he removed his suit jacket. “You solved a crime the police didn’t even know had happened.”

Nancy smiled sadly. “I only wish I could have given Adelaide more answers,” she said quietly. “All she has now are more questions.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Recipient, I hope you have enjoyed the story! I enjoyed writing it, and definitely thank you for the Mabel Maney recommendation in your prompt. It was exciting to try on the "frocks and luncheons" style of Nancy Drew.
> 
> As the summary says, this belongs to the post-1959 revised editions of Nancy Drew in the yellow spine. Laura Pendleton, the Aborns, and Don Cameron all appear in Nancy Drew #3, The Bungalow Mystery. Helen Corning appears in Nancy Drew #1-4, as well as #46.
> 
> And of course, thanks always to my beta readers! While they remain nameless, they are indispensable.
> 
> 2015 edit simply to fix some spacing issues.


End file.
